Riot spy squad set up in Britain

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 19

Riot spy squad set up in Britain

The British police have formed a new intelligence organisation with a district network of officers and informants to gather information on political protest and tension in the community, reports Nick Davies of the Loudon “Observer.”

Set up to cover the whole of London, the organisation — known as the Central Intelligence Unit — is run by Scotland Yard’s new streamlined public order branch, AB, and works closely with the Special Branch.

The unit relies on 24 district intelligence officers to pass on information about industrial disputes, marches, meetings, and “community tension.” Their reports

are used to plan deployment of riot-trained support units. Unlike Special Branch, which gathers intelligence on formal political groups, the new C.I.U. works at street level, picking up low-level intelligence — scraps of converstion, local gossip, unusual incidents — with the beat officer being the main source of information. Particular note is taken of “tension indicators,” which include complaints about police or hostility towards police activity, as well as political struggles between local groups and a rise in the number of disturbances.

Commander Alan Young, head of AB, said: “We get overt intelligence, something the man in the

street can see. If a group of .blacks in Notting Hill Gate throw a couple of crates, we would hear about that; or we could hear about a march with a politicial dimension and I would go to Special Branch and ask for an assessment from them.”

The unit is part of the powerful new anti-riot machinery built up since the 1981 riots by police forces across the country. This month, the Government published plans for a law to deal with pickets, demonstrators, and other public order problems. The new weaponry in the police armoury includes:— • Stockpiles of CS gas, now held by 32 forces, plastic bullets, held

by 12 forces, and a massive training programme aimed at giving every officer in the country antiriot instruction.

• New tactics for "snatch squads” and ground manoeuvres circulated among senior officers in a confidential manual, entitled “Public Order Tactical Options.” • Training in “arrest and restraint” based on aikido and Army unarmed combat techniques, now being taught to London policemen.

• A new national public order unit, based at Scotland Yard, which co-ordinates strategy, training, and equipment across the country.